


somewhere along the bitterness

by anditstotallyawesome



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Betrayal, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hybrid GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Hybrid Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Light Angst, M/M, Moral Ambiguity, Sapnap-centric (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:27:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29742885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anditstotallyawesome/pseuds/anditstotallyawesome
Summary: “I know you’re there,” Dream drawls, “Sapnap.”Sapnap freezes. Shit, this wasn’t supposed to happen this quick. He takes his sword out of the sheath on his belt.Dream turns around and Sapnap raises his sword, eyes wide. He didn’t know how long it would take the rest of them to get here. He didn’t know how Dream spotted him, either, as he was a fair way away.“Dream,” Sapnap responds, trying to stand his ground, ignoring how his hands shake at the thought of facing his best friend again.Dream escaped from prison. They don't know how or who helped him.And Sapnap is the one that finds him, obviously.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 200





	somewhere along the bitterness

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! i haven't wrote a fic in a very long time haha and i'm currently suffering from dsmp brainrot so! here ya go!
> 
> title from how to save a life by the fray (lmfao)

“Dream escaped.”

Sapnap froze with the communicator in his hand. _What the fuck?_ His grip tightens on the communicator, knuckles turning white. He sucks in a shaky breath and responds through gritted teeth, “I’ll be right there.”

So, Sapnap runs. He sprints all the way from Kinoko Kingdom, using his trident and ender pearls. He loves living in his little mushroom village with his best friend and fiancés, but he’s got to admit, it’s hard to get to his day job as a prison warden. 

And, he’s got to admit… the past couple of weeks, he’s felt alone. Everyone’s been off doing their own things, and he’s okay with that! He has his own things, too, but he always goes home. He always comes home. He knows his fiancés have their own reasons for not coming home right now, and he looks forward to when… that doesn’t have to happen anymore. George is at least there most of the time, but he does have a bad habit of sleeping in.

He realizes he doesn’t have time to think about that, though, as he lands in front of the prison entrance. Punz and Sam are already there, with Bad and Ant arriving at the same time as him.

“What happened?” Sapnap demands as soon as he’s in front of Sam.

Punz crosses his arms. “What do you think, nimrod? Dream escaped.” Sam gives him a look and Punz rolls his eyes at him. “TNT. We don’t know who and we don’t even know how that much TNT got into the prison, but he’s very clearly not in his cell anymore.”

Sapnap rubs his hands down his face and groans. “How did this happen,” he mumbles. His fingers move to rub his temples and raises his voice. “How the _fuck_ did this happen? The prison is protected, like, six ways to Sunday! I thought TNT couldn’t even blow-up obsidian? How did he get past the Guardians?” He realizes he’s rambling, but he doesn’t care.

Sam sighs, voice monotone, which is still something Sapnap is getting used to. He’s used to Sam’s upbeat and animated voice, but Warden Sam was scarily serious. He respects it, but it’s very different than normal. “A lot of the obsidian in his cell was transformed into crying obsidian. I don’t know how or who did it. You all remember the incident a couple of weeks ago with Tommy, correct? I believe whoever instigated that security breech is also responsible for his escape.”

They still haven’t figured out who exactly infiltrated the prison during Tommy’s visit. They neutralized the TNT and scoured the entire prison to make sure no other threats existed. They also determined that Tommy definitely had no part in it. The poor kid had to be stuck with his tormentor for a week, there was no way he would’ve done something like that on purpose.

Tommy was able to focus on his hotel and other stuff now. Hopefully, he was chilling in Snowchester with Tubbo right about now, far away from this whole scenario. 

Bad and Ant nod to what Sam was saying. “Yeah, that makes sense,” Bad says. “Any intel on where he might be?”

“We don’t know,” Punz says, frustration evident in his voice as he runs a hand through his hair. “We don’t even know what direction he went in.”

“Okay, so we split up,” Ant says. “Each of us go in different directions until we find him.”

“A 1v1 against Dream?” Bad exclaims. “Listen, we’re all really powerful muffins, but I don’t think any of us could beat Dream on our own, even if he’s weak right now. Plus, we don’t even know who’s with him.”

Punz hums to Bad’s point. “So, we don’t engage. When we spot him, just let the rest of us know, keep your distance, and we can ambush him.” 

Sapnap, who had been uncharacteristically quiet and glaring at the ground, looked up at the rest of them. “Alright, sounds good. Let’s go.” He hated this. Everything about this sucked. 

First of all, the fact that his best friend since they were little kids, the guy who’s been with him through _everything_ , became this – this _thing_. They’ve known each other for so long now, it seems like they’ve practically known each other since birth. They both decided to leave their past lives together when they were barely teenagers, barely old enough to survive on their own.

Yet, they survived. They saw each other’s highs and lows, patched each other’s wounds, and celebrated each other’s first kills. They built shelters together, cooked food together, mined together. Dream was there to calm the boy born of fire and Nether, not yet used to the fragility of the Overworld, if he got a bit too carried away, a bit too fired up. 

They also met the boy that lived in a tiny mushroom village deep in the woods together, with a large mushroom on his head and seemingly tiny ones sprouting from his clothes. Dream had made large (obnoxious, Sapnap used to tease) goggles for the boy once it came apparent just how unadjusted his eyes were to light environments. He had stuck with them ever since.

Sam levels Sapnap with a hard glance, seeming to know what he was thinking about. “Fine. Let’s go.” They discuss who’s going where, for how long, and when to communicate.

Then then they split up.

~*~

It had to be some sort of poetic justice, Sapnap thinks, that he was the one to find Dream.

He was searching the far outskirts of the SMP, far past any monument, at a scattering of trees situated next to a forest. He saw the bright green before it could spot him and quickly sent his cords, and the direction Dream was headed to the group. He followed Dream, keeping his distance, hand on the hilt of his sword just in case.

Dream dips into the deeper part of the forest and Sapnap, fully knowing it would be a bad idea, follows a little behind. He still has an eye on the green when the figure suddenly stops. They’re in a somewhat open area, sunlight still shining through the canopy of leaves above them.

“I know you’re there,” Dream drawls, “Sapnap.”

Sapnap freezes. Shit, this wasn’t supposed to happen this quick. He takes his sword out of the sheath on his belt.

Dream turns around and Sapnap raises his sword, eyes wide. He didn’t know how long it would take the rest of them to get here. He didn’t know how Dream spotted him, either, as he was a fair way away.

“Sapnap,” Dream repeats, his name sounding wrong in his voice, laced with fake pity and sadness.

“Dream,” Sapnap responds, trying to stand his ground, ignoring how his hands shake at the thought of facing his best friend again.

“You shouldn’t have followed me, Sapnap.” Dream stands roughly ten feet from him now, arms outstretched as if offering forgiveness. He has no weapons on him, that he can see at least.

Sapnap scoffs. “Oh yeah? What did you expect? You escaped from _prison_ , Dream! What the hell did you think was going to happen?”

“Oh, I dunno,” Dream shrugs. “Do you really think you could take me by yourself, Sapnap?”

Sapnap opens his mouth but closes it quickly before he says anything that could incriminate him. He knows he shouldn’t let on that the others are coming, especially with Dream catching him so soon. “It’s always going to be me versus you, Dream.”

“Oh yeah?” Dream challenges, taking his hands out of his pockets.

Sapnap holds his sword up in a defensive position. Dream may be unarmed, but that hasn’t stopped him from pulling weird tricks out of thin air before. And… he’s got to keep stalling. “But I- I don’t want to hurt you. You’ve been like a brother to me. You still are.”

“Still?” Dream questions innocently. Almost like a little part of the old Dream was peeking through.

It was hard to remember that this was a guy that has tormented so many people when he looked so open and vulnerable right now. But he had to remember it was an act. When did it start becoming an act? Was it always an act? Sapnap had no idea anymore. He didn’t want to believe it’s always been an act – what a fool he would be if that were true.

Sapnap tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, gaze hardening as he looked at Dream. His stupid mask was pushed to the side to show only half of his face. “Estranged brothers, maybe.”

Dream smirks, only half of it visible. “Aw, Sapnap… don’t be like that.”

Sapnap suppresses the need to roll his eyes. He just had to stall him, he reminded himself again. The rest were on their way. They knew his cords, so all he had to do was keep Dream put.

“Don’t be like what, Dream? Sad? _Angry?_ ” he asks sarcastically. Fire boils in his veins. He’s vaguely aware of the smoke rising from his arms. “Do you want me to run over to you? Hug you? Say, ‘Oh, Dream, I’m so glad you’re out of prison! I forgive you for all of the shit you’ve put everyone through,’” he says in a mocking tone. He takes a deep breath, voice growing small, despite his anger. “What you put _me_ through.”

Dream’s cocky expression stays on his face, looking strained, but he glances down at Sapnap’s arms. “What _I_ put you through?”

“ _Yes_ , what you put me through!” Sapnap throws his arms up, frustrated, burning embers peeking out of parts of his exposed wrists. “We were best friends, Dream, and you cut me out! You threw me to the side like- like a piece of rotten flesh. You changed so much, and I don’t know why or how or, or…” he sighs, “or what I could’ve done to stop it.”

And the thing is? Dream doesn’t seem to bat an eye at anything Sapnap just confessed. Sure, his smile before was a bit too sharp, and his cocky smirk fades into a passive frown, but that’s all Sapnap notices. He can’t _see_ anything else.

“I didn’t change, Sapnap.” Dream shifts his weight to his other foot and crosses his arms.

Sapnap laughs incredulously. “Are you serious? The Dream _I_ knew would never have made a 16-year-old kid go into exile for so long. He never would’ve perpetuated all these stupid wars.”

“You participated in all of those wars, too.”

“Yeah, now opposing you! We’re not on the same side anymore, Dream! When did that happen?” Sapnap’s grip on his sword tightens, his other hand moving to rest on his chest.

“Oh, come on, Ni-“

Sapnap immediately draws his sword defensively and stalks toward Dream. “Don’t you _dare_ -“

An arrow _fwooshes_ right past his face.

“What the fuck?!” Sapnap exclaims, stepping back and swinging his head towards the direction the arrow came from. Dream doesn’t look surprised.

A figure emerges from the shadow of the trees, bow aimed at Sapnap, an oddly serious expression on his face. 

Sapnap feels like the air has being kicked out of his chest.

“ _George?_ ”

The figure in question moves his face to the side of the bow, looking Sapnap in the eyes. He’s in full Netherite, spare the helmet. His goggles are placed on his forehead. His stupid mushroom hat is still on his head with mushrooms bursting from his shoulders and sporadically around the rest of his body. “Sapnap.”

This. This can’t be happening, right? _Right?_ His two best friends suddenly, what? Against him? Trying to kill him? What the hell. George had literally helped build their mushroom kingdom a few weeks ago.

“What?” Sapnap shakes his head, voice sounding small, confused. He’s frantically trying to catch his breath. “What are you doing? Why?” He looks back at Dream, who seemed to be back to looking smug.

“You were going to attack him,” George responds bluntly.

“I was going to...?” Sapnap repeats. He shakes his head, feeling like he’s suddenly too many steps behind. “No, I wasn’t!” 

“I mean, it looked like it from my perspective.” George’s voice finally showed some emotion, albeit just a snarky tone of voice, but it was a step up from whatever was happening before. 

“George…” Sapnap looks frantically between the two people standing in front of him, the two people he would’ve called his best friends months ago. One of them he still would’ve called his best friend less than an hour ago. 

“Just go home, Sapnap,” George says softly, sounding tired, yet still standing his ground.

Sapnap scoffs incredulously at his statement. “Home? To where? The kingdom we built together?” he says mockingly. “The place we spent literal weeks building and decorating and making perfect, all for you to – what? Throw it all away once Dream needed you again?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You never do, Sapnap.”

He scoffs again. He feels like he’s been doing that a lot this conversation, but what other reaction is there to have to whatever the fuck was playing out in front of him right now. “ _I_ don’t know what _I’m_ talking about? Dude, Dream is _manipulating_ you. That’s all he’s ever been doing to us!”

George still holds his bow steady. “I’m perfectly aware of what I’m doing.”

“Are you?” Sapnap squints at him, then directs his attention to Dream. “How do I know you’re not using mind control or whatever on him?”

“I’m not,” Dream chuckles and tilts his head. “I mean, there’s no way you’ll ever know if I were, but that doesn’t matter.”

George rolls his eyes and cracks a smile, first one Sapnap’s seen on George today. “Shut up, Dream. You aren’t helping your case.”

Dream only laughs in response. George flicks his gaze over at him quickly before resting back onto Sapnap, who is glancing between the two of them.

And, alright, Sapnap will be honest. He doesn’t really know what to do about this right now. The last person he was expecting to be helping Dream out was _George_. George, who slept through elections and built houses during wars, always somehow blissfully unaware of major events happening on the server and Dream’s wrongdoings.

George, who was crowned king and quickly stripped of his title by Dream. George, who refused to believe Sapnap when he said Dream didn’t care about them. George, who painfully pleaded with Dream to just admit that he hated him.

George, who, once he learned Dream was in jail (much later than everyone else, mind you), tried to break him out and immediately fainted. Sapnap was the one who had to carry him all the way back to their budding mushroom kingdom.

George, who – before all this started, the SMP, everything – he and Dream had been…

_Fuck._

Okay, so maybe somethings about this made sense. Sapnap drags his free hand down his face.

“Why now, George?” Sapnap asks, fatigue obvious in his voice. 

George shrugs. “Seemed about time. He doesn’t deserve to be in there forever.”

“Well, yeah, maybe not _forever_ –“ Sapnap struggles. “But it doesn’t mean you can just break him out of a virtually impenetrable prison!”

“Yeah,” Dream scoffs. “’ _Virtually._ ’” George smirks at his remark.

Sapnap glares at Dream, but otherwise ignores him, looking back at George with a pleading look in his eyes. “I just don’t get it, George. What about Kinoko Kingdom? We spent all that time building a new home for nothing? What about Alex and Karl?”

George’s own mask crumbled a little at that statement, a flash of pain could be seen in his eyes before it’s quickly covered up. Dream may be the one with a physical mask, but that doesn’t mean George hasn’t perfected his own mask, as well. He’s always been able to hide his emotions when needed.

“When was the last time you saw them?” George says bluntly and Sapnap physically recoils at the statement. Sapnap immediately begins to respond before George cuts him off. “No, like, _actually_ saw them. Not just in passing or a quick catch-up chat or whatever. When was the last time you slept in the same bed as your _fiancés_ , Sapnap?”

Sapnap scoffs, eyes widening. If his scoff sounded more like a choked-off sob, no one said anything. His grip tightens on his sword once again, slowly walking towards George. “Watch your mouth,” he grits out. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He’s burning. It’s truly quite a sight, when the boy born from fire gets angry. His hair is full of sparking embers, fueled by every word George says. Even through his Netherite armor, smoke was rising from the openings. Fire could be seen between the cracks, like molten lava beneath volcanic rock. For anyone else, it would be painful, but it doesn’t hurt him.

“Oh, don’t I?” George raises his eyebrows, unphased by the sight in front of him. “Quackity’s been off doing God knows what with his casino business. Do we even know what he’s doing with that? Who he’s working with? He’s barely even _been_ to Kinoko. And Karl keeps disappearing for days at a time! And half the time he’s here, he’s out of it!”

Sapnap’s knuckles turn white with how tightly he’s gripping his sword with both hands now, making him more aware of the golden bands on each of his ring fingers. He knows what it looks like, but George doesn’t understand. 

Just a few weeks ago Alex was talking excitedly to him and Karl about his plans for the casino. He warned that it might be a while of time apart, as it was a huge project to build from the ground up, but assured them they would have all the time in the world together once the casino was on stable ground.

And Karl… well. They had found out about his time traveling accidentally. With a few too many times of forgetting where he was and calling his fiancés the names of a life past lived, it was bound to happen. Karl had confessed to them, sobbing about how he had to save everyone, and please don’t be mad at him, he didn’t mean to hurt them, he didn’t mean to forget, he’ll learn to control it –

Sapnap and Alex comforted him as much as they could, looking at each other over their fiancé in the midst of a breakdown with nervous glances. Sapnap sat on his left with an arm around Karl, gently rubbing circles into his side. Alex sat on his right with a hand idly playing with Karl’s hair. Karl gripped each of their free hands in each of his, grounding himself in this reality as much as he could. 

They promised they would get through this. 

They loved each other. They could do this.

But it’s not like George knew any of this.

And maybe that added to this.

Sapnap shakily breathes in, trying to ground himself the same way he and Alex would help Karl ground himself. “It’s not like that, George.”

“They left us! They went off doing better things and they left us to live in that little kingdom alone –”

“ _I was there!_ ” Sapnap cuts him off angrily, voice cracking. He lets his arms drop to his side, no long holding his sword up. He places his free hand on his chest, voice going quiet once more. He looks at George with eyes shining with tears unshed. Fire was still visible in the cracks of his armor, but mostly only smoke remained. George’s bow finally – finally – falls to his side. “I was still there. The whole time.”

George gapes at him, eyes wide and shining. “I… I know that.”

“Was that not enough for you?” Sapnap asks, pretending that his voice didn’t sound as pitiful as it did. “We were like brothers, George.”

“Of- Of course it was!” George stutters. If this were literally any other time, Sapnap would be teasing George about how he made him flustered, how he made him fumble with his words. “Of course, we had each other, but this whole time you still had _something_ , Sapnap! When you went home to them, I went home alone. I _lost_ what I had –” George suddenly cuts himself off, nervously glancing behind him at Dream before pulling himself together and looking back at Sapnap. Sapnap’s eyes turn to pity, which seems to fuel George’s anger once more.

“But this isn’t – about us or against you, Sapnap! All I wanted from the start was for all of us to be like a _big, happy family_. But it never happened, and it was never _going to_ happen with Dream inside that prison!”

Sapnap glances again at Dream, who surprisingly hasn’t left his spot. He’s just been watching the two duke it out this whole time. He couldn’t even tell what he was thinking with that dumb mask covering most of his face now. His hands are fidgeting inside his sweater pocket. He also knows it was stupid of him to focus so much attention on arguing with George and not on Dream, but whatever.

“This wasn’t the right way to do this, George,” Sapnap pleads. “You _have_ to have realized that.”

“There’s no good way to do this anymore, Sapnap.” George puts the arrow he was holding back into his quiver on his back. “The server went to shit.”

“No, it hasn’t,” Sapnap argues. “It’s still redeemable.” Sapnap risks glancing over at Dream as he says this. Dream looks right back at him, expression unreadable through his mask. 

George also looks back at Dream, who turns his head towards George and tilts his head.

“I think…” George looks back at Sapnap while grabbing and crushing something on his shoulder. “I think it’s time for us to go.” George holds up his fist towards him and blows whatever it was in his face.

Wait, what?

Sapnap’s eyes widen as the – dust? – swirls around his face. His vision turns blurry, eyelids growing heavy. “What did you-?” he slurs but can barely get the words out. What the fuck was that? 

Spores? _Fuck_ – 

“I-… -orry,” Sapnap hears. Was that George? Sapnap tries to blink towards the distorted voice, but when he opens his eyes, he’s looking at the sky. Huh? He tries to ball his hands into fists, but he just holds a fistful of grass. When did he get on the ground? Why are two dark clouds standing above him?

He’s like, 90% sure clouds don’t act like.

“We nee-… go.” And, huh, there’s a rather tall cloud coming into his field of view. He didn’t remember seeing a third cloud here before.

Before he can put any more thought into that, the world fades to black.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!! you can find me on twitter at @/karlnaphq :]
> 
> a few headcanons in here are mushroom king george (one of my faves), sapnap born from fire/the Nether, and villain!george (kinda). i just want george lore man. imagine if george actually grew mushrooms on him and some of them were poisonous... the potential
> 
> this was written as just a one-shot btw!!


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